Thursday, March 22, 2007

Eyes: Construction and Pitfalls

In preparing this post I kept thinking, "ahhhh man I could be preparing this post for a year before i feel like I have something that does justice to the topic." So, I feel like what would be best is if I just break this topic down into post's and sessions. This first post will be about construction (how the eye is put together) and the general errors I see a lot in drawing eyes. The first thing for anyone to do who wants to really understand what they are drawing is to study the object thoroughly right!? You might be able to draw something from memory well, but unless you've got that reference and real life study in your brain it'll probably lack authenticity. Eyes are definately MY favorite part of animating close ups or medium shots. They give the term "working within the pose" a lot more meaning to me and open a lot of acting doors. The goal isn't to match life but to caricature it-- just like always in animation. There an authenticity to eyes that can be found though, one that seems to trigger something subconscious in us where our brains say " hey, I've seen that before." It can only help cross that barrier in the mind of "I know this is just a pile of drawing in some wear house to, man I am really understanding what that character is feeling". In studying animated eyes I've found something really interesting-- I can't find one shot where any of the 9 old men did any eye darts. I am certainly not saying that their work was less because of it, but I think it's interesting that it's used more today and not really at all back then. If anyone can think of any examples I am missing from the 9 old men era that i am forgetting please let me know. Anyway, that's sidetracking. So, eye construction... I think it's important to know how the eye ball works within the socket, how far back it is in your head, how the muscles work. What I think is less important is all the inner workings (blood vessels, etc...) though not without value.

I think the first thing to note from the picture above is that the eye ball is NOT a perfect circle. Why? Because of the lensein front of your pupil. Check out the drawing below.

I don't necessarily always draw the lense, but I do draw the affects of it. Meaning, because your eye is not a perfect sphere there is friction on your eye lids. Your bottom and top lid with deform and bend slightly to the curve of your lense.

Below here in this pic see how the curve of the lid's follows the direction of the pupil. Not only is it what is physically accurate, but it also creates interest in the shape of the eye. A very basic drawing/design rule is uneven shapes. It's a very simple way to create dynamics, tension, a feeling of movement and life.

Speaking of pupil direction, check out this page below. In extreme up or down shots (imagine the eye is in a general looking straight position) how you draw the eye is important. Remember that the pupil and cornea are not on the surface of the lens. It's beneath the lens. If you flip your eye from the right to left rows you'll see the difference between a pupil that is "painted" on a flat surface verses the pupil that is set beneath the lens. You'll notice on the profile I didn't draw the literallens sticking out from the eye. It's a matter of taste/and style sometimes.

As I said before a basic design and drawing rule is to keep your shapes a-symmetrical . This creates interest in your shape. In this case below make sure your shapes are not straight and boring, but also that the pupil direction is reflected in the overall shape of the eye.

This pic below is just to show you where and how the muscles connect to the eye. This is more important to inform how you animate your eyes than it is how you draw them. Notice how short those muscles are? Short muscles mean quick contraction which translates into eye darts. That's why your eyes move so fast. The eyes can move slowly, but it's not as often. Like everything, it's a matter of taste in the moment of choice.

Lastly, the thing to know about eyes is that their shape is created by the lids surrounding the eye ball. Not the eye ball itself... check out these pics of different people and note what kind of impression they give you as a viewer based on their shape.

I cannot communicate how important eyes are. Yeah yeah, we all know that you say, but really man! If they are the first thing we look at they must say some something pretty important to us as people. A lot of what I covered today was more on the technical "how to" end of things, but you gotta know this stuff to get to the artful parts of it all. Next post I'll post some screen shots from live action and animated performances that I feel uses eyes to their potential. Until then, thanks for hanging in there and reading all of this!

Hey Matt, Oh man did I miss your animation tuttorial.Good thing your bear animation was AMAZING!!It helped me to be patient ;)) I also can't wait for Coraline(big fan of the book).Doesn't matter how long it take between each post ,your blog is still a major source of inspiration .Oh I have a small favor to ask ,I am trying to get a job at disney ,and I would really appreciate if you could give me your opinion(please the truth) on my reel. http://johnduke01.blogspot.com/Thank a lot

The timing for this post couldn't be better. I have to animate Someone trying to catch a fly. So you could imagine the amount of Eye darts I have to do. But the eyes are so small they don't read as well as I would Like. Thats probably down to a design flaw. Guess I have to move the head. I'll post it when I'm done. Thanx again matt.Wes

Timbo: I am so glad it helped! And helping others is my pleasure, I love it! I'll do a short tutorial someday on how to do (solid) head turns and the limitations of the head. Feel free to request whatever you are curious about, sometimes it's hard for me to know what people want to hear about.Duker: Thank you so much for you gracious words! I'll look at your reel soon, does your blog have your e-mai address so I can write you my thoughts?Libra: Your very welcome and it's my pleasure! Can't wait to see your animation!Willi: Thanks man! I hope it's helpful/inspiring for everyone!

i have a dumb question, and i already apologize for it. But since i'm french, i don't understand the term "eye-dart", and unfortunately, you use it a lot! I've looked into dictionnaries and i've asked to bilingual friends without result. So could you please explain the exact meaning of the word, or better, post an example ? I understand it'about acting, and that it's not the same thing than a blink. But it's the best I can tell... I'm aware that i'm not gonna be the best animator ever when i will understand the world and then the notion, but, you know... maybe it can help !Thank you anyway for the rest of the blog: For the things I undertand, it' very helpful !

Louis: There are no dumb questions... unless of course it's a stupid question. haha... but your certainly is not a dumb! An eye dart is when your pupil moves back and forth from the left to right very quickly. It's a very quick, "poppy" movement. the "dart" of eye dart refers to darting back and forth. does that make sense, just go out and talk to anyone and you will see them do it in a matter of seconds.Pavement mouse: Your very welcome! And thanks for stopping by!Ricardo: I hope they're good!! Its my pleasure to share it with you all...

that definitely cleared some things up...i have a question for you...in films like road to el dorado or little mermaid, (or any disney-type animated film with humans) the eyes always have some sort of nicely drawn line on the top and/or bottom of the eye representing the lashes..lashes usually go from corner to corner on a real human being, but sometimes, the lines are only partially drawn...one time i step framed a scene from road to el dorado and the lash actually seemd to slide across the top of miguel's eye lid...i didnt think of it as being an error but rather a judgement of appeal, showing the black in different lengths at different angles..my question is a-do you even know what im talking about ;) and b-do you have any comments on that?

Tim: Hmmm, I'd have to see the specific shot you mentioned, but as far as drawing the lashes favoring one side it is an intentional design principle (uneven shapes). It also helps give the eye it's shape, if that lash line was an even thickness all the way across the upper eye it would flatten the shape out a little. I think the important thing with lashes is to keep them simple. I worked on a barbie commercial and the model they gave us had every individual eye lash drawn in there. When i asked if i could simplify it they said "No way, that's what the doll looks like and we don't want that to change." What can you expect from advertising agents ya know?Andy: Thanks for dropping by man! I am glad you enjoyed the tutorial, more are coming!

Thank you for continuing to post knowledge on your blog and your lipsync helped me out a alot and several others in remembering patience when approaching lipsyncs...anything for that matter animated related. I did a lip sync and Im cleaning it up now and Im pretty proud of it thanks to your tutorial. Once again thanks a million for the sharing the knowledge.

To be a noble charitable being is to from a amiable of openness to the in the seventh heaven, an cleverness to trusteeship undeterminable things beyond your own pilot, that can take you to be shattered in unequivocally exceptional circumstances on which you were not to blame. That says something exceedingly impressive about the condition of the righteous compulsion: that it is based on a trustworthiness in the unpredictable and on a willingness to be exposed; it's based on being more like a shop than like a jewel, something rather fragile, but whose very special attraction is inseparable from that fragility.

Advice in old age is foolish; for what can be more absurd than to increase our provisions for the road the nearer we approach to our journey's end. [url=http://accutro5607.livejournal.com/]Watches[/url]Watches

I am so glad it helped! And helping others is my pleasure, I love it! I'll do a short tutorial someday on how to do (solid) head turns and the limitations of the head. Feel free to request whatever you are curious about, sometimes it's hard for me to know what people want to hear about.